Can Being Vigorously Rubbed With a Blunt Tool Help With Pain?

Qua sha is a gentler version of the traditional Chinese therapy, in which a practitioner applies vigorous surface friction to lubricated skin — frequently on the back and neck — with a rounded tool, often to the point of dramatic, mottled bruising. Also known as coining, spooning, and scraping, gua sha is commonly used in Asia to treat chronic pain and respiratory ailments; one Chinese translation is “scraping out the wind.”